Conference Proceedings: “The World During the First World War”
The results of the international symposium “The World During the First World War: Perceptions, Experiences, and Consequences”, which was organized by the German Historical Institute London, the Leibniz University Hanover, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Zentrum Moderner Orient and took place in Hanover in the fall of 2013, have now been published. In the conference proceedings, published under a shortened version of the title, the First World War is explored through different regional and disciplinary angles. As Helmut Bley and Anorthe Kremers, the editors, point out in their introduction: “One central theme of the conference was the direct impact of the European war theatre on people from other parts of the world. More than six million people were forced into the war in Europe, the Near East and in Africa.” (10)1 Apart from a transregional approach that underlines “that a shift of perspectives – one that departs from the Eurocentric approach and takes the global dimensions into account – is crucial” (18), the book also features several disciplines ranging from Art History to Medical History since “the voices of literature or art need to be heard more intensely and [be] integrated into a general picture of global perspectives on the war, for example culture and literature, art as a part of the propaganda but also the means of mo[u]rning, protest or the own experiences during the war.” (17) Furthermore, ongoing research projects like 1914-1918-online are presented.
- Bley, Helmut, and Anorthe Kremers. “Introduction” The World During the First World War. Eds. Helmut Bley, Anorthe Kremers. Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2014. 9-18. Print [↩]